Knowing is Everything!

Especially in the Music Business

I must know a million artists that want to make it big in the music business but yet they are all hoping and praying that someone with enough expertise comes and swoops them up like a knight in shining armor. Why, you might ask, would someone be so dependent on someone else? The answer is information! Whether you believe it or not, it is information that makes the world go 'round. Knowledge of this idea is even more important as it relates to the music industry because the nature of this industry is one of interdependence. That means the only way to build your self value in this business (and in most businesses) is to have the knowledge about how to do something that people need and can't necessarily do themselves. The more complex the task, the more valuable the professional. It's actually a quite simple..IF PEOPLE DON'T NEED YOU, THEN YOU ARE IRRELEVANT TO THEM. Makes sense right!?

Think about it...starting from the top down, (depending on how you look at it), the labels need the experts, the experts need the talent, the talent needs the management, the management needs the people, and back on around it goes in a big circle. Everyone needs everyone in this business and the more you know, the more people will gravitate near you.

Now you may be saying..."well I know as much as they do, why am I not where they are?". There can be many possible answers to that question but the main reason one man that knows just as much as another will not be as successful as that man is because somehow the more successful individual proved his worth. He proved that his way of doing something works more, and better. So before youe go comparing yourself to the Lyor Cohens, th Kevin Liles', the Ruseel Simmons, and all of the above, make sure to ask yourself if you have really proved to those that need you most that what you know is valuable. The answer to that question may infact change your life.


Here's a good place to start: delve into some of these "must read" books!

-All You Need To Know About The Music Business by Donald Passman (duh right!)

-Start & Run Your own record label by Daylle Deanna Schwartz

-Making Records by Phil Remone

-This Business of Artist Management by Xavier Frascogua

-The Truth about the music business by Moore

-Confessions of a Record Producer by Moses Avalon

-Making Music Make Money Eric Beall

-8 Minute Meditation by Victor Davich

-How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

-The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach